Hong Kong: Indian golfer Arjun Atwal remains at top of the APGA Tour Order of Merit despite missing last weekend’s Taiwan Masters.

Atwal catapulted up the rankings earlier in the year after winning the Singapore Masters, which is joint-sanctioned with the European Tour. Following that victory he focused on playing in Europe but he returns to Asia this week to play in the Korean Open.

The other Indians who feature in the Order of Merit list are Harmeet Kahlon in sixth position and Vijay Kumar (11).

Taiwan’s Tsai Chi-huang, who won the $300,000 Taiwan Masters by an emphatic five shots, moved into the top 10 for the first time in his career. His compatriot Lu Wen-teh, who finished second on Sunday, is now in 15th position on the merit standings. Korea’s Charlie Wi is third while Canadian veteran Rick Gibson is fourth.

London: Arrows may miss Sunday’s Belgian Formula One Grand Prix in what would be the troubled team’s second successive no-show of the season.

“We don’t know if we are going,” a spokeswoman said on Tuesday, two days before the deadline for teams to present their cars for scrutinising at Spa-Francorchamps. Failure to turn up would again leave Formula One with just 20 cars and 10 teams on the starting grid.

Arrows did not turn up for the last Hungarian Grand Prix, turning their trucks around after they had got as far as Germany, on legal advice so as not to interfere with discussions with potential investors. The team argued then that they had been prevented from competing due to Force Majeure, circumstances beyond their control.

Arrows have been negotiating with former British American Racing (BAR) principal Craig Pollock, who has backing from American investors. They are currently last in the standings with two points and have only one named driver, Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi, after German’'s Heinz-Harald Frentzen departed.

Lausanne: Former world record-breaking pole vaulter Sergei Bubka has continued his rapid rise in sports administration by being made chairman of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission. Monday’s appointment, announced by the IOC ahead of its three-day ruling executive board meeting, sees the Ukrainian Olympic gold medallist and six-time world champion succeed Finn Peter Tallberg, himself a five-time Olympian in sailing.

The 39-year-old Bubka has been a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission since 1996 and was elected to the ruling executive board as the first active athletes’ representative in 2000.

Sydney: In keeping with tradition, friends, fans and members of the Bradman museum assembled at Berida Manor in Bowral for a special luncheon thrown in honour of Sir Donald Bradman on what would have been his 94th birthday Tuesday. Every spring a luncheon is organised at Bowral, where Bradman grew up, to mark the birthday of world’s best batsman ever. The guest speaker was former England captain Tony Greig.

Canberra: Topless calendars and nude TV ads will no longer feature in promotional campaigns for the Australian women’s soccer team after the coach banned his players from baring too much flesh for publicity.

Coach Chris Tanzey has stripped the rights of the Australian Women’s Soccer Association to use his players in money-making ventures like the Matildas calendar, which featured photos of topless Australian players and caused a big stir before the Sydney Olympics.

Tanzey said if he hadn’t stamped it out, the exploitation would have continued.